Violin issue solved, lunch issue averted

So after talking with a friend of mine who's a professional violinist, I just ordered Erin's violin online, and had it shipped overnight, so it should be here tomorrow. I was really leery of buying without seeing/hearing first, but he said that when it comes to really small violins, it really does not matter how much you spend. None of them have that great of sound because there's just so little wood to them. He also correctly pointed out that at this point, Erin will be using the violin for familiarization as much as any playing, so really, it's most important at this point that she has A violin, and really, most any will do. It makes total sense when I think about it. With that in mind, I ordered today, and should receive it tomorrow. Good. Violin disaster dealt with.

On a related note, though, why is it that people who know absolutely nothing about any of this feel the need to weigh in on it? It's kind of funny how some people have to give absolutely horrible "advice" on absolutely everything. We have exactly one friend who knows anything about this subject, not only because he is a violinist himself, but because his daughter started lessons a few years ago, so he has been exactly where we are, and not terribly long ago either. Seriously, though, if you have never played, and your kid has never played, spare me.

OK, anyhow, the lunch thing. So I'm starting to hate this school's lunch system. You have to fill out the calendar for the days your kid wants lunch, weeks in advance of the start of the month it's for. So basically, by the time the days your kid wanted lunch come around, half the time, they don't want that anymore, and by then, you've already paid for it ($3.20 a day for Wonder Bread and government cheese!!), and it's too late to cancel it, so they've got to eat it. Anyone who's ever met Erin would know this would not make for a pleasant morning, and this morning was no exception.

Then I had to also call the school about it because the other day that we paid for her to eat lunch at school, they apparently didn't have her on the list, because they told her not to forget her lunchbox again. Not cool. We paid for her to eat that day. I figured that the fact that I handed our papers in to the most scatterbrained human being alive probably figured into it. She did, after all, lose our violin lessons registration, and we handed in our lunch calendar and check at the same time, so why wouldn't she have also lost that? So anyhow, I had to call the school today and make sure that Erin was on the list for lunch because I didn't send her lunchbox. ($3.20 buys me a day off from packing a lunch for the world's pickiest eater.) I had to make sure she'd be allowed to eat, and not get chided in the cafeteria, so I called to see if she was on the list. You wanna guess what the answer was? It won't be a surprise. So anyhow, they were able to put her on the list, and also correct the list for the other day that we paid for (which is in like a week), and I didn't have to run up there, lunchbox in hand, and have it delivered to her in class, although that would have pleased her greatly since she didn't want school grilled cheese as of this morning anyhow.

So yeah, it's funny. I'm really hoping that this girl moves somewhere else when her husband gets out of the Army in a couple months. In not even two full weeks of class, I've had to clean up after her mistakes twice already. Man, I know it was a crazy day at orientation and all, but how can you really justify straight-up losing people's stuff?

Oh, speaking of disappearing paper, Orren is in a particularly annoying phase. Yeah, eating paper. It's really gross.